


U.S.D. Daniel Jackson

by kuonji



Category: Stargate SG-1, Temeraire - Naomi Novik
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-08
Updated: 2016-07-08
Packaged: 2018-07-22 07:53:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7426465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuonji/pseuds/kuonji
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>George Hammond was the name of the new guy in charge. Bald as a cueball. No-nonsense. </em>Jack gets recalled to the stargate program.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Orig. Posted 2008.11.17
> 
> Alternative Links:  
> <http://kuonji14.livejournal.com/18943.html>

Jack came back from what he was determined to make his last top secret mission for the Air Force ready for a life of gardening, stargazing, and avid fishing. He got what he wanted. Unfortunately, however, his life working for The Man just wouldn't end that easily. Not quite a year later, he was recalled to Cheyenne Mountain by two apologetic airmen and one word: Stargate.

Before he knew it, he was twenty-eight floors down again. Flouting his retired status, Jack made a show of strolling down the concrete halls with hands in pockets. He couldn't manage to keep it up, however, when he was taken to the General's office and ushered to a seat.

"Colonel O'Neill," he was greeted.

Jack checked the plaque at the front of the desk. George Hammond was the name of the new guy in charge. Bald as a cueball. No-nonsense.

"Retired," Jack returned amiably. The general took it in stride, and Jack felt slightly better. "What do you need me for?" he asked.

"I'm afraid, retired or not, we need your help." The man had a southern drawl that softened up his image. Jack wasn't sure yet if that were an intentional effect or not.

"I heard something's up with the gate."

"In a manner of speaking, yes."

"Frankly, sir, Kawalski or Ferretti would be a better bet. I'm not inclined to field work anymore." Jack had been offered a job last year, as head of one of the exploration teams off-world. It'd sounded right up his alley -- high action, high excitement, high secrecy. He'd turned it down without a second thought.

That sort of job had killed his kid, almost killed him, and nearly broken up his marriage a dozen times. No more.

Hammond twitched his fingers atop his desk. "It's nothing like that. It's more of a... sociological dilemma."

Jack raised an eyebrow. He wasn't exactly dumb, but no one had ever put him forward for exercises of the mental sort, least of all himself. "I think you'd do better to call in the Jacksons then."

"That's exactly the problem. They're dead."

Jack's heart seemed to skip a horrible beat. "Sir?"

"A plane accident. Prop flight out of Cairo."

Jack was stunned, his mind blank with disbelief. The Jacksons, dead? Mel and Claire had always had an aura of invincibility. Their ingenuity, dedication to ideals, and stubborn love of life had been instrumental on the Abydos mission.

And they had turned Jack's life around in the bargain.

Hammond's gimlet eyes turned compassionate. "I'm sorry, son. I know you were close."

Not damn close enough. Jack hadn't kept in touch with them. He'd seen an article featuring their names a few months ago, but he'd never stopped to look them up. He'd kept telling himself that building back his own family was more important, that the Jacksons would understand.

He'd had a vague thought to invite them over and introduce them, triumphant, to Sara and the new house they'd just moved into three months ago.

"What--" Jack had to stop to clear his throat. He needed to remain professional here. "What do you need from me, General?"

Thankfully taking the hint, Hammond turned business-like once again. "It has to do with what, excuse me, _whom_ they left behind. He picked up a personnel folder and handed it over. Jack's eyebrows lifted as he took it, noting the color -- a crisp ruby red.

Jack read the typewritten name on the tab, incredulous. "'Daniel Jackson'? That's... unusual."

He certainly wouldn't put it past the Jacksons, though. They were -- had been -- an eccentric pair.

"Daniel Jackson," Hammond declared, "is currently the foremost expert on Abydonian language and culture. He is also a gifted linguist, philologist, and--" his lips quirked slightly, "--anthropologist."

Jack opened the folder and stared uncertainly at the photo of 'Daniel', trying to find something of the Jacksons in the set of that long nose and the attitude in the strange blue eyes. "With all due respect, sir, I'm a pilot, not an aviator."

"Be that as it may, Daniel is a valuable resource that we can't afford to lose. His advice has already been instrumental in several missions so far. He's agreed to continue working with the U.S. government, but only on the condition that you be his partner."

"Sir, I don't have any background in his subjects." Jack was fuzzy about the details, but he did know that partners to the 'Reds' -- as they were called in the U.S. military -- were usually chosen to be compatible on the job. "More importantly, while I owe Mel and Claire a hell of a lot, I really didn't know them that well." Apparently not even well enough for them to have ever told him about this 'Daniel'. "Shouldn't you be looking for someone who's at least met him before?"

"As a matter of fact, Colonel, you have met him. Though he didn't look like this at the time, of course."

"What?" Jack felt his jaw drop. "You can't mean... They were authorized to _keep_ it?" That had never occurred to him as having the slightest possibility. He'd even made sure to remind the couple not to expect to be able to keep such an enormously valuable and unique item. "Anything we brought back was supposed to belong to the U.S. Air Force."

"That's right," Hammond agreed. "But of course, as Doctors Melburn and Claire Jackson pointed out--"

"--dragon eggs aren't possessions," Jack finished for him.

There were some who thought it should be otherwise, but the Equality Act of 1947 was clear. Dragons couldn't vote, but they could own tangible and intangible assets and even hold jobs as long as they had a human partner. Ownership of a dragon was akin to slavery, which had been outlawed in the mid 1800s. Eggs had the same amorphous rights as a human fetus -- not quite individuals yet but definitely not property to be owned.

"Exactly. A top secret military tribunal ruled to let the egg hatch and allow the dragonling to choose for himself what he wanted to do."

"And of course he wanted to stay with the Jacksons." The Jacksons, who at first sight had lavished on it all the outrageous wonder and flattery that a couple of geeks could for an actual _alien_ dragon egg, who had braved death (literally) to save it from Ra's ship, who had been gifted the egg with high ceremony by Kasuf and his people who were its protectors.

It would have been a foregone conclusion. Jack supposed that it said something for the fairness of the tribunal that they had ruled the way they had.

Hammond nodded. "Fortunately, the Doctors Jackson were amenable to encouraging Daniel to work for the Air Force. Unfortunately, now with them gone, we have no hold over him whatsoever. I can only thank God that they weren't killed on a mission for us, or losing a resident expert would be the least of our worries."

"Yes, sir," Jack agreed emphatically. He didn't know much about dragons, it was true, but everyone had heard stories about Reds on a rampage after their partners were declared KIA. Before joining, they were required to have special psych training and to agree to be sedated on the event of their partner's death or injury.

"As it is, you're the only person on this planet now that Daniel Jackson trusts."

Jack scrubbed a hand across his face, astonished by the turn of events. He wondered what Sara would have to say. But he knew the answer: "I can't promise anything, sir, but I'll give it a try."

"Good man! We need you on the first train to New Mexico that you can manage."

Jack was so surprised that he didn't even think to protest the urgency. "Train, sir?"

Hammond sighed. "The Jacksons had a fatal plane accident. Do you think Daniel Jackson would let you fly?"

Jack groaned. Not only had he given up the sleek jets that he'd loved in the Air Force, now he was stuck with an aerophobic dragon.

  
END.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _He wondered what Daniel ate, and he wondered, with equal parts unease and distaste, if he would become responsible for feeding him._ Jack meets Daniel for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Orig. Posted 2008.11.25
> 
> Alternative Links:  
> <http://kuonji14.livejournal.com/19068.html>

Sara was as dismayed by the news of the Jacksons' death as Jack himself. Although she had never met them personally, she was conscious and grateful for their role in bringing Jack and herself back together.

If it hadn't been for the Jacksons, who inspired, encouraged, and flat-out threatened Jack to give his marriage another chance, he and Sara would have continued drifting apart, probably to an inevitable divorce.

He had only the Jacksons to thank for Sara, his wife through better and worse -- and also the possibility of another child, something that he and Sara had been discussing lately.

Sara helped him pack for the emergency trip. She even offered to come along, but from what Jack knew of dragons, he figured that he'd have a better chance if she didn't. She didn't like the argument very well, but she conceded to it as the truth.

So it was that 36 hours later, Jack found himself in the mens room at the Belen station, sprucing himself up for his first face to face with the legacy of Melburn and Claire Jackson. He wasn't quite sure whether or not he was hopeful that Daniel would accept him as his new partner.

He stared hard at his own reflection. His hair was grizzled beyond his mid-forties age. His face was weathered with sharp lines of stress, slightly softened by the last months in retirement. He knew himself to be a closed, independant man. He felt no qualms in shutting out people he disliked, though he was generally friendly with ones he got a good vibe off of. Even close friends, though -- even his wife -- knew him to be a private man.

Jack scraped a hand through his short-cropped hair once again and sighed.

How on Earth was he to become soul mates and life partners with an alien creature, when he was unwilling to attain deep relationships with his fellow man?

The taxi ride out to the late Jacksons' ranch property was uneventful. Along the way, Jack was surprised to see quite a few dragons roaming the grounds. Having grown up in urban Chicago, Jack hadn't had the chance to meet many dragons in his lifetime. He supposed that New Mexico's more spacious grounds and easier access to large quantities of meat were a draw to dragons and the families who lived with them.

Some were apparently working at various tasks, some just lounging in the late afternoon sun. One had been messily devouring a live sheep, a sight that Jack could have done without. He'd seen dragons eating raw rations in the field, and it had always struck him as incongruous -- that creatures who worked with first aid teams and aeronautics engineers would tear their food apart like giant carrion crows.

He wondered what Daniel ate, and he wondered, with equal parts unease and distaste, if he would become responsible for feeding him.

The Jacksons owned a small-sized ranch, perhaps for the purpose of feeding their charge, and a two-story house in a shocking, modern Frank Lloyd Wright style. The house sat half a mile off of the main road, looking like a cross between a greenhouse and a dance studio.

Once there, Jack had no problem identifying his would-be partner: He was waiting for Jack's taxi at the side of the road, like a singularly intimidating butler. He watched Jack closely as he disembarked, and he made no move to welcome Jack indoors.

On the side of the asphalt road, in the boiling New Mexico summer, with the sound of the departing taxi the only sound between them, man and dragon regarded each other.

Daniel was about the size of a Moidedoa, Jack figured, the small van-sized creatures that had led devastating aerial guerrila attacks in Vietnam. He had a similar head shape, too, viper-ish and sleek like oil.

Instead of dark leafy green, however, Daniel was the color of iridescent sand. His scales shown gold and tan as he turned his head on its sinuous neck to study Jack from all sides. The eyes that he narrowed down at Jack were a startling blue, and breath-takingly human.

"Colonel O'Neill," he said, after a full minute had passed. His voice was a surprising tenor for his size. He sounded supremely put upon by Jack's presence, despite the fact that he was the one who had requested he be there. It kind of pissed Jack off, enough that a jawful of teeth the length of his finger no longer seemed an issue.

"Retired," he replied shortly.

Daniel blinked slowly, reminding Jack of a heavy-lidded iguana. He didn't seem to take offense, however. "My parents spoke highly of you," he said, in a tone that betrayed no emotion.

"Your 'parents', huh?"

"I know it's a little unusual. Please don't start." Jack was no expert at reading dragon expressions, but even he could tell that there was no 'please' about the request.

"Ah. Sure." Jack looked around. "Look, unless you're getting ready to reject me out of hand, could we continue this inside? I'd kill for a glass of water."

Daniel made a loud snort, and he tilted his head towards the house. "Come on, then."

That, Jack supposed, was about the best invitation he could expect to get.

  
END. 

**Author's Note:**

> If you haven't read the Temeraire series, I highly recommend that you go find her books and read them.  Right now.  And just to convince you: You may already know Naomi Novik, but by [another](http://intimations.org/fanfic/) [name](http://archiveofourown.org/users/astolat/pseuds/astolat).)
> 
> * * *
> 
> If you enjoyed this story, you might try these:   
>      [Universe Ambassador](http://kuonji14.livejournal.com/12686.html) (Stargate SG-1/Firefly), by kuonji   
>      [We Sort Too Soon](http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4088243/1/) (Harry Potter), by kuonji  
>      [A Different Sort Of Command](http://kuonji14.livejournal.com/13917.html) (Stargate SG-1), by kuonji  
>      [On The Wings Of Imagination](http://community.livejournal.com/sga_flashfic/680544.html) (Stargate Atlantis), by Xparrot  
>   


End file.
